Abstract
Forest biomass and its change over time have been measured at both local and large scales, an example for the latter being forest greenhouse gas inventories. Currently used methodologies to obtain stock change estimates for large forest areas are mostly based on forest inventory information as well as various factors, referred to as biomass factors, or biomass equations, which transform diameter, height or volume data into biomass estimates. However, while forest inventories usually apply statistically sound sampling and can provide representative estimates for large forest areas, the biomass factors or equations used are, in most cases, not representative, because they are based on local studies. Moreover, their application is controversial due to the inconsistent or inappropriate use of definitions involved. There is no standardized terminology of the various factors, and the use of terms and definitions is often confusing. The present contribution aims at systematically summarizing the main types of biomass factors (BF) and biomass equations (BE) and providing guidance on how to proceed when selecting, developing and applying proper factors or equations to be used in forest biomass estimation. The contribution builds on the guidance given by the IPCC (Good practice guidance for land use, land-use change and forestry, 2003) and suggests that proper application and reporting of biomass factors and equations and transparent and consistent reporting of forest carbon inventories are needed in both scientific literature and the greenhouse gas inventory reports of countries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The carbon fraction is defined as the carbon content of a unit of biomass. Most frequently, a value of 0.5 is used (see FCCC/SBSTA/2004/INF.7 at http://www.unfccc.de).
All national communications of the Annex I countries can be accessed at the UNFCCC website, http://www.unfccc.int.
The term “biomass” suggests that just mass (weight) unit is employed when speaking about biomass quantity. Although volume units are also frequently used in this respect, the amount of biomass in this paper is always expressed in mass units (kilograms, metric tons, etc.).
Note that it is also possible to estimate volume from biomass, for which similar factors may be needed; however, this paper focuses on the estimation of biomass from volume.
References
Araújo TM, Higuchi N, Carvalho JA Jr (1999) Comparison of formulae for biomass-content determination in a tropical rain forest site in the state of Pará, Brazil. For Ecol Manage 117:43–52
Baskerville GL (1972) Use of logarithmic regression in the estimation of plant biomass. Can J For 2:49–53
Brown S, Lugo AE (1984) Biomassof tropical forests: a new estimate based on forest volumes. Science 223:1290–1293
Cannell MGR (1982) World forest biomass and primary production data. Academic, London
Eamus D, McGuinness K, Burrows W (2000) Review of allometric relationships for estimating woody biomass for Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, National Carbon Accounting System technical report 5A. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, 56 pp
Fang J-Y, Chen A, Peng C, Zhao S, Ci L (2001) Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998. Science 292:2320–2322
FCCC/SBSTA/2004/INF.7 (2004) Estimation of emissions and removals in land-use change and forestry and issues relating to projections. Note by the secretariat. http://www.unfccc.int
Hakkila P (1979) Wood density and dry weight tables for pine, spruce and birch stems in Finland. Commun Inst For Fenn 96(3):1–59
Haripriya GS (2000) Estimates of biomass in Indian forests. Biomass Bioenergy 19:245–258
IPCC (2003) Good practice guidance for land use, land-use change and forestry. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Hayama, ISBN 4-88788-003-0
Jalkanen A, Mäkipää R, Ståhl G, Lehtonen A, Petersson H (2005) Estimation of biomass stock of trees in Sweden: comparison of biomass equations and age-dependent biomass expansion factors. Ann For Sci 62(8):845–851
Jenkins JC, Chojnacky DC, Heath LS, Birdsey RA (2003) National-scale biomass estimators for United States tree species. For Sci 49:12–35
Jenkins JC, Chojnacky DC, Heath LS, Birdsey R (2004) Comprehensive database of diameter-based biomass regressions for North American tree species. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, General technical report NE-319, pp 1–45
Joosten R, Schumacher J, Wirth C, Schulte A (2004) Evaluating tree carbon predictions for beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in western Germany. For Ecol Manage 189:87–96
Keith H, Barrett D, Keenan R (2000) Review of allometric relationships for estimating woody biomass for New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia, National Carbon Accounting System technical report 5B. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, 114 pp
Lehtonen A (2005) Estimating foliage biomass for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) plots. Tree Physiol 25:803–811
Lehtonen A, Mäkipää R, Heikkinen J, Sievänen R, Liski J (2004) Biomass expansion factors (BEFs) for Scots pine, Norway spruce and birch according to stand age for boreal forests. For Ecol Manage 188:211–224
Levy PE, Hale SE, Nicoll BC (2004) Biomass expansion factors and root:shoot ratios for coniferous tree species in Great Britain. Forestry 77:421–430
Marklund LG (1987) Biomass functions for Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) in Sweden. Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet. Rapporter-Skog 43:1–127
Marklund LG (1988) Biomassafunktioner för tall, gran och björk i Sverige. Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (in Swedish). Rapporter-Skog 45:1–73
Monni S, Peltoniemi M, Palosuo T, Lehtonen A, Mäkipää R, Savolainen I (2006) Role of forest carbon stock changes in the uncertainty of greenhouse gas inventories—the case of Finland. Clim Change (in press)
Muukkonen P (2005) Generalized allometric volume and biomass equations for some European tree species. Eur J For Sci (in press)
NIR Hungary (2004) National Inventory Report for Hungary 2002. http://www.unfccc.de
Pan Y, Luo T, Birdsey R, Hom J, Melillo J (2004) New estimates of carbon storage and sequestration in China’s forests: effects of age–class and method on inventory-based carbon estimation. Clim Change 67.2-3:211–236. DOI 10.1007/s10584-004-2799-5
Pařez J, Žlábek I, Kopřiva J (1990) Tabulky pro výpočet základních objemových jednotek v porostech hlavních dřevin (in Czech). Forestry/Lesnictví 36(6):479–508
Parresol BR (1999) Assessing tree and stand biomass: a review with examples and critical comparisons. For Sci 45:573–593
Pastor J, Aber JD, Melillo JM (1983/1984) Biomass prediction using generalized allometric regressions for some northeast tree species. For Ecol Manage 7:265–274
Patenaudea G, Hillb RA, Milne R, Gaveaud DLA, Briggsa BBJ, Dawsona BBJ (2004) Quantifying forest above ground carbon content using LiDAR remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ 93:368–380
Phillips D, Brown S, Schroeder P, Birdsey R (2000) Toward error analysis of large-scale forest carbon budgets. Global Ecol Biogeogr 9(4):305–314
Reichle DE (ed) (1982) Dynamic properties of forest ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, London
Satoo T, Madgwick HAI (1982) Forest biomass. Forestry Sciences Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W. Junk, The Hague, 152 pp
Schroeder P, Brown S, Mo J, Birdsey R, Cieszewski C (1997) Biomass estimation for temperate broadleaf forests of the United States using inventory data. For Sci 43:424–434
Smith JE, Heath LS, Jenkins JS (2003) Forest volume-to-biomass models and estimates of mass for live and standing dead trees of U.S. forests. USDA Forest Service, General technical report NE-298
Sprugel DG (1983) Correcting for bias in log-transformed allometric equations. Ecology 64:209–210
Ter-Mikaelian MT, Korzukhin MD (1997) Biomass equations for sixty-five North American tree species. For Ecol Manage 97:1–24
Tritton LM, Hornbeck JW (1982) Biomass equations for major trees species of the Northeast. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Northeastern Forest Experiment “Station, General technical report NE-69, 46 pp
Wirth C, Schulze ED, Schwalbe G, Tomczyk S, Weber G, Weller E, Böttcher H, Schumacher J, Vetter J (2003) Dynamik der Kohlenstoffvorräte in den Wäldern Thüringens. Abschlussbericht zur 1. Phase des BMBF-Projektes “Modelluntersuchung zur Umsetzung des Kyoto-Protokolls”. Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, p 328
Wirth C, Schumacher J, Schulze E-D (2004) Generic biomass functions for Norway spruce in central Europe—a meta-analysis approach toward prediction and uncertainty estimation. Tree Physiol 24:121–139
Zianis D, Mencuccini M (2004) On simplifying allometric analyses of forest biomass. For Ecol Manage 187:311–332
Zianis D, Muukkonen P, Mäkipää R, Mencuccini M (2005) Biomass and stem volume equations for tree species in Europe. Silva Fennica Monographs 4, 63 pp
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the European Commission as part of the project CarboInvent (Multi-Source Inventory Methods for Quantifying Carbon Stocks and Stock Changes in European Forests; contract number EVK2-CT-2002-00157), see http://www.joanneum.at/CarboInvent. COST E21 also provided opportunities for the authors to meet at whole action meetings, as well as at task force meetings, where the issues as presented in the paper were identified and developed. Emil Cienciala also acknowledges the support from the Czech Science Foundation, project ID 526/03/1021.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Michael Köhl
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Somogyi, Z., Cienciala, E., Mäkipää, R. et al. Indirect methods of large-scale forest biomass estimation. Eur J Forest Res 126, 197–207 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-006-0125-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-006-0125-7